Scream of the Beast
by JM West
Summary: In the post-apocalyptic forests of Appalachia, something monstrous left over from nuclear fallout of the war forty years ago lurks in the darkness that even super mutants will avoid. Follow an expedition into the darkness of the woods to uncover the truth of this abomination that stalks their forests at night.


The sun was rising on the horizon, creating a silhouette of the mountainous landscape. It was not yet bright enough to cause eye damage by staring directly at it. The clouds smeared across the sky were tinted with a pink as the great ball of fire rose from it's resting place to awaken the thousands of sleeping people around this portion of the Earth. Here in Appalachia, it was the most perfect place to watch the sunrise as one could sit atop a mountain and see for many kilometers in every direction. The sun climbing its way up into few on the horizon was the most calming sight one could hope for after staying up the entire night planning what their team's plans for the next for days would be. The sunrise nearly made Jim Smith want to fall asleep. It would have been the perfect time to do so in his own world. But this was not his own world as he had an entire group to plan ahead for as they were about to embark on an expedition in search of something that was previously unknown. Being a journalist, he continued to think of how much he could write about this sight in which he was currently viewing. He was not a romanticist, however he did have a sense of creativity that kept his imagination alive. He was able to keep other people's imaginations alive by placing his works out for the public to read. He felt that doing so was a part of his duty as a columnist for the local newspaper. It had in fact, been the reason why he had began writing for the Westenland Bulletin.

After he was finished gazing at the rising sun, he decided to walk back down to his home at the base of the hill. He lived in a shack made of spare building materials just as most of the other people in this town lived in. It was only a quadrilateral shaped dwelling, each side measuring approximately seven meters. However, it was perfect for him and his twelve year old son, Anthony, to live in by themselves. They had plenty of living space since it was just the pair of them. Jim had lived through much worse as he had grown up in a house around the same size with his parents and two siblings. Squeezing five people into such a small home could cause troubles. But now, those troubles were gone. He entered the cabin which opened up into the living room. The cabin had four rooms; the living room, a kitchen, his office, and a bedroom. Upon entering the bedroom, he saw his blonde headed son sprawled out on his floor mattress wearing only his boxer shorts and snoring. Jim found the sight somewhat humorous. He snickered as he kicked Anthony in the thigh in order to awaken him from his deep slumber that had continued through the night.

"Get up son," he stated, "We need to start our day. We've got a lot to do today."

Anthony whined and rolled over. His eyes opened half way before he shut them again. Jim decided to do what he normally did when Anthony would not wake up. He quickly scooped the boy up in his arms and carried him into the living room, then plumped him down aggressively on the couch. Anthony was now wide awake and burst into a slight giggle as he always did. He loved being picked up and carried places even though he was now on the verge of adolescence and outgrowing such behavior. He then changed from giggles to shock as he looked around the room. He behaved as if he had no idea where he was.

"Is it really today," he asked, "Is today the day that we are going to go on that camping trip?"

"Yes it is," Jim replied, "That's why you need to get moving so we're not late meeting the others. They're going to think that we're running late because we agreed to meet them early on the outskirts of the community. Hurry up and get your clothes on so that we can leave here as soon as possible."

Anthony darted off of the couch excitedly back toward the bedroom. He had been immensely excited about this trip ever since Jim had told him about it. Many people thought he was insane taking a child into the Wasteland but Jim did not mind being insane. He only wanted his son to be with him. He would take Anthony into a warzone simply so that he would not be forced to leave him alone. Jim had packed him and his son a backpack of clothes and supplies each. He was happy to see his son so excited to be going on this dangerous expedition along with his father and several others who had organized it.

It only took Anthony a few minutes to dress himself. He had fast dressing and hygiene skills for a twelve year old boy. He often was dressed before Jim. Jim had always thought it was strange for small boys to dress themselves so quickly as he had always been slow to dress himself and ready himself to leave the house as a child. Apparently, that had been because he did not enjoy going places at Anthony's age. He had much opportunity to either since he had been raised on a farm. Post-War farmers did not travel very often due to dangers in the Wasteland. There was always the danger of raider or super mutant attacks out in the countryside. Therefore, they had not left the farmstead often; only when they were nearly completely out of supplies. They raised their own food, so going to buy groceries from the stores was not a common task for his family during his childhood. They had rarely enough caps to afford equipment anyway. They had been very poor just like most of the people in these mountains. He was still in the realms of poverty, but had made a step up on the scale since his childhood when he had rarely ever had a full amount of clothing to wear. He had often been forced to go without socks or underwear, and sometimes both, during warmer weather growing up. He had been the filthy small boy dressed only in a pair of ragged shorts, standing by the old road, waving to Wastelanders as they came by their house. His son had life slightly better than he had growing up but was not much further up on the scale. He wanted his son to have a better life than he had had growing up but still did not want to spoil him. He wanted him to have to go without some things at times in order to toughen him up. So far, he could have never been prouder of his work in raising this boy. He was near the end of his childhood and Jim knew that he had done a terrific job in raising Anthony this long without the aid of his mother or any relatives. This proved that Jim needed no one to help him or his son as they could get by quite fine without any female interference with their lifestyle.

Anthony came back into the living only a couple of minutes later fully dressed and carrying a small book in his hand. Jim asked what it was and Anthony held it up to reveal that it was a book of "scary stories." It was a book that Jim had given to him for his birthday last year which he had found while at one of the local vendors in town. Jim had taught Anthony to read in the same fashion that his own father had taught him. There was a school in town, but Anthony only attended when Jim could not take him to work with him. He usually brought his son to work, but sometimes his boss disliked him doing so. Therefore, he sent Anthony to the local elementary school on those days. He felt that it was a decent place to send his son to some days when he was too busy to watch him as Anthony would find other children to play with while he was there. He sometimes stayed at his friends' houses that he had met at school, or brought a friend home to stay at his own house. Jim disliked it when Anthony stayed at a friend's home though as he missed his son being here with him. Others often teased him for being an "attached parent."

"We can read this scary book around the campfire tonight," Anthony said, "I think that will be fun. Don't you think so to, Daddy? You like reading scary stories too don't you?"

"Of course I do," Jim replied with a grin and putting his hand on his son's shoulder, "I think that we had better get going though. The others are going to be wondering where we're at."


End file.
